Opinion No. Oag 25-90, (1990)

TOM LOFTUS, Chairperson Assembly Organization Committee

On behalf of the Assembly Committee on Organization, you have asked whether a value-based motor vehicle registration fee would violate the uniformity clause, article VIII, section 1 of the Wisconsin Constitution. As you describe it, the statute would designate the registration fee as a tax imposed on the privilege of using a motor vehicle on Wisconsin highways and would apply only to vehicles used on the highways. You specifically ask whether a system under which the registration fee varies directly with the value of the motor vehicle…